


A Time Traveler's Bounty

by Not_Moose469



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23842729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_Moose469/pseuds/Not_Moose469
Summary: It has been a tradition for decades that every year 5 subjects will be chosen from every school in the country to be sent to some point in the future they are unfamiliar with. Charlie is one of the lucky 5 for his school; a young man expected to become successful, he gets sent to a time where people aren't separate and the fashion is pretty comfortable.I based this off a TikTok trend; you'll know which one it is.(Also posted on Wattpad! https://my.w.tt/si4uLEmOY5 )
Kudos: 2





	A Time Traveler's Bounty

"OK, you will have 6 hours to spend within your new reality. There is no possible way we can make this longer now, but this is what the world will look like soon." The man in the lab coat straps a bracelet to each of our right wrists so they can bring us back; from what I have heard, they are practically indestructible. The 5 of us all step into the small tube that will send us to 5 different points in the future. One we will not know. As we step in, I start to feel the nerves the other subjects had told me about. I do not know what will happen, but I am excited to see.

The door to the tube shuts once everyone is inside and strange noises start echoing around me. A bright light flashes in my face and I close my eyes. 

After what seemed like minutes, the noises stopped. I feel a breeze through my hair and on my skin that is much more exposed than before. Hundreds of voices and other noises assault my ear as I take in my surrounding. I find myself in the middle of a busy place alive with activity. I look around for familiar sights but come up empty handed. Oh well, guess I will have to look around some more. What I do see are towers of glass hundreds of feet tall and cars I have never seen before. The square is buzzing with people and sounds and... are those signs moving? And glowing? They are so colorful and bright! I've officially decided I love this future.

I look down at myself and find I'm in denim pants with ripped knees, black shoes with a white stripe on each side and soles, and a black shirt that reaches my mid bicep. This is so much different to the hats, clean white shirts, and suits that are commonplace when I am from. I kind of like the style. It is... comfortable. 

I take another look around and focus on the people surrounding me. People of different races and styles stand all around me. Some are not even speaking English! Most are looking at tiny flat devices with glowing screens and some are even talking into them. I wonder what they are; and where I can get one! I walk up to one of the glass buildings and look at myself in it. It is my face; my freckles, blue eyes, and curly brown hair, though it was in a different style over my forehead and not slicked back like it usually is. Not exactly sure what I was expecting, but when your clothes change maybe you expect your face to change to.

I continue to move around the square taking in every sound, smell, and sight around me. People speaking words I do not understand, people with different accents I'd never heard, people in colorful clothing similar to my own, children laughing with their siblings and parents or crying because they didn't get this or that. What is this magnificent place? When does this place exist? I could stay here forever! I continue walking along the sidewalks, stopping to pet a very fluffy white dog, weaving in and out of crowds of people, glancing around at the amazingly tall buildings that people in my time could only dream of creating!

Eventually I spot a familiar land mark; the Empire State Building. A marvel in the city that is New York; that must be where I am then, New York. This New York is so much better! I eventually find a large clearing on a corner surrounded by trees with many people passing through I walk onto this pseudo forest and find a large square pool surrounded by many people of different backgrounds. I make my way to the black barrier and find it covered in gold words; after reading a few I realize they were hundreds upon hundreds of names. What had happened here that caused so many names to be honored? I turn to a blonde woman in what looks like a black suit and white shirt and ask, "What happened here?" I am surprised by how much my accent had changed in the few hours I had been here.

I notice the woman wiping away tears before she says, "Must not be from around here, huh?" I shake my head. "Well, on September 11th, 2001," wow, nearly 100 years in the future. "There was a terrorist attack where 2 planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center towers. Over 2,000 people died that day, including my dad." I felt sympathy for this woman; she had suffered a terrible loss that I could never begin to imagine. I offered my condolences and walked to the reflective metal building and went inside. I hear the person in front of me asked for money to get in and pat down my pockets. I feel a lump in my front left one a pull out what must be a wallet.

"That'll be $28." I hand over the money and walk inside after grabbing a small paper pamphlet containing a map and some background information on this place.

As I go through what I only assume is a museum, I learn more about the building itself and the tragedy that happened here. I learn about the people that sacrificed their lives so that more could live and those who jumped so that they would not die as a result of someone else. I learned of the people who hijacked the planes and how their leader was stopped nearly 10 years later. 

The bracelet on my wrist starts to vibrate as I realize my time here is coming to an end. I do not want to leave; I like it here. It is a place where different people are not separated, where not everyone looks the same. Where the world is full of color. The bright light returns and I once again close my eyes, the strange noise from before returns to my ears as I feel my long shirt and jacket replace the shirt with short sleeves and my long pants replace the ripped denim pants. I open my eyes as the sound stops to find myself in the small glass tube where I began. I notice that I am still holding the pamphlet I grabbed when I walked inside the place I was.

I step out of the tube along with the other subjects chosen and look down the line. They all seem dejected except for the one at the very end of the line; he seemed... angry. At what, I was not sure. Where he went, I am not sure of that either. After they take off the bracelets, I walk quickly to catch up to him as ask why he was mad.

"I'm not mad," he says. I feel relief for a brief second before he says, "I'm furious. What were people thinking dressing in those ripped pants and short shirts? What kind of clothing is that? Seems highly disgraceful, doesn't it?" 

I stare in shock for a moment before responding. "Um, o - of course. Awful. Disgraceful for sure," I say, hoping he doesn't notice my blatant lie.

He doesn't seem to as he says, "Well then, I am glad we could come to an agreement. See you tomorrow, then," and then leaves me standing at the entrance to the gymnasium. 

I notice all the other subjects and scientists tasked with operating the machines have left. I walk towards the controls and press each button or flip each switch the scientist did before we left; I thank my genetics for giving me my father's photographic memory. The date to which I was sent was still input, so I decide not to mess with it. I grab the large button that was somehow attached to the tube I was in without a cord before stepping into it quickly as to not injure myself when the door closed. I clench the pamphlet in my hand and press the button and see multiple scientists run into the room after hearing the strange sound and the white light returns and I close my eyes. Before I disappear completely, I hear one of the scientists shouting something about a bracelet before the shouting fades out completely. I feel the breeze again and the same voices and other sounds fill my ears again. I open my eyes and look around the same place. I am never going back to my time; not when this one is so much better.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my work! If there are any typos, please let me know!! This was written at 2:00am in the 15 minutes after inspiration hit. Thank you for clicking! Constructive criticism is welcomed!


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